Years of Shame :"Primary"

This French post-punker Years of Shame lean closer to the more depressive moments of coldwave in the bleak opener to this album. The vocals are coated in effects, but this helps add another sonic layer that helps sell it as the droning throb aptivates my ears. "Heat" finds the beat shifting to a more anxiety-ridden tremble. The vocals are more forward in the mix and fall back on the chorus, which is an odd choice. The expressive manner in which they are delivered compensates for this. What is becoming clear is something common with this sort of thing, when it comes to the arrangements working off a simple throb as they follow the programmed drums, which leaves little surprise when it comes to dynamics. 

The vocals are generally able to to compensate for this for the first few songs. "Violence" finds them shifting the dynamics on the chorus to conceal that the music is not doing much aid from a faint ebb and flow around them. They go from emotive to emo with the expressive pout the vocals take for "Primary Choice," but it is pretty catchy, so hard to complain about it. I can hear how this might appear to fans of newer projects like TR/ST, but it is also rooted in things like early Depeche Mode and "Pretty Hate Machine" era Nine Inch Nails. The guitar parts are mixed way in the back of the mix for some reason, but it works overall so far. 

I like the darker feel of "ECHOES", though the entire album is leading you in the direction of the shadows, there are no whimsical "Love Cats" moments. "LIGHTS" is more of an interlude as it feels more like the idea of a song that was never a completed thought. "Terror" has more form and function it comes from the nu-darkwave school more rooted in indie rock like Boy Harsher, as it works a simplistic, murky pulse, but with less heavy breathing here. 

The Verdict

The album really delivers when it comes to taking from a few sub-genres of goth and fusing them into something that pays tribute to the roots of the genre, while still looking to the future to keep the scene alive so I will give this album a 9 and see how it grows on me.